This invention relates to an interactive design or graphics system in conjunction with which a variety of terminal devices may be operated at a plurality of locations to produce precision mechanical, manufacturing or architectural drawings from rough sketches, photogrammetric plans, schematics, printed and integrated circuit artwork masters, and other related graphics.
An interactive graphics system is a system capable of performing some or all of the above functions in which the man-machine interface is utilized to maximize the capabilities of both to produce an end product that, because of the synergistic maximization of capabilities, is in effect superior to that which could be produced either by a computer system alone or by an operator alone. While interactive graphics systems as such are existent in the prior art, a persistent problem has been the complexity of software and hardware required to convert the human input into useful computer data from which graphics can be generated, and in converting the computer output into simplified data from which an operator can derive additional system input, all in a substantially continuous operation.
A problem of the prior art in such systems is in achieving immediate system plotback from data derived from raw material such as rough sketches. In such systems, data must first be digitized, or converted from the sketch to digital coordinate locations and then subjected to various time consuming operations before it can later be plotted as a drawing. In the present system, an operator manually positions a mechnaical cursor at selected locations on, for example, a rough sketch. The cursor serves to control the movement of a drafting carriage which "follows" the cursor around the plotting surface and which is electronically controlled by computer commands which in turn are derived in part from the cursor position. Such an arrangement permits an operator, merely by moving the cursor to different locations to digitize for later plotting complex drawings from rough sketches. The system software enables and controls storage, retrieval, carriage positioning and reproduction of all graphic and alphanumeric information by the system under operator control, and incorporates the requisite programs for communicating with a data base and the various peripheral equipment, with software data decoding being used in place of hardware decoding.
In another embodiment of the invention, an electronic cursor generated by a simple mechanical stylus arrangement on the face of a cathode ray tube may be substituted for the mechanical cursor on the plotting table, or used in combination therewith. In prior art systems, sophisticated training is required to operate systems of the prior art, whereas the present system configuration allows relatively untrained personnel to perform graphics operations that formerly required trained specialists.